Defenders Fall 3-2
April 10, 2009 - Eastern League (EL1)
Connecticut Defenders News Release
PORTLAND, ME- The Defenders dropped game 2 of the best of 4 series against the Portland Sea Dogs 3-2 on Friday night at Hadlock Field in dramatic fashion.
Connecticut and Portland for the second straight night entered into a pitchers duel that went well into both team's bullpens. The Defenders RHP-Brooks McNiven received a 1-0 cushion in the second when -1B-Brett Pill scored on a CF-Mike Mooney groundout to short after he earlier doubled to lead the inning off. McNiven would last just three and two thirds innings, giving up five hits, one earned run while striking out one.
The Sea Dogs would answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. C-Mark Wagner led off with a double and was plated on a 2B-Ryan Khoury double to tie the game at 1-1 at the end of the second inning.
Sea Dogs starter Adam Mills would render the lead yet again in his final inning of work in the fifth. SS-Brian Bocock got aboard with a base hit and RF-Eddy Martinez-Esteve doubled him home with a shot off the right field wall to give the Defenders a 2-1 advantage.
The bullpens would take over the game from there as both managers mix and matched between hitters. After a few innings of silence from the offenses, the Sea Dogs CF-Josh Reddick made the biggest noise of the night with a solo shot off of the Defenders RHP-Dan Griffin to tie the game a 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Portland would manage to load the bases on three infield singles and get to the Red Sox number one prospect (ranked by Baseball America) 1B-Lars Anderson in the bottom of the ninth. After the Defenders reliever RHP-Waldis Joaquin went ahead in the count, Anderson drew the count full then took a pitch low and inside to draw a walk and score the winning run.
Joaquin suffered the loss and Sea Dogs reliever RHP-Chris Province picked up his first win of the season after delivering two scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
The Defenders and Sea Dogs will meet again tomorrow afternoon for game three at 1pm at Hadlock Field in Portland, ME. Catch all the action starting with the Defenders Pre-Game Show at 12:45pm. It's a matchup of RHP-Nick Pereira for the Defenders and RHP-Travis Beazley for the Sea Dogs.
The Defenders season opener is April 16 vs. Trenton (Yankees). For more information or to order tickets, call the Box Office at (860)-887-7962 or purchase online at www.ctdefenders.com.
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